A student writes a two-voice piece where the lower voice plays a steady arpeggiated chord pattern while the upper voice carries a singable melody. Their teacher says this is not counterpoint. Why?
AArpeggiated chords are not permitted in species counterpoint under any circumstances
BThe lower voice is accompaniment, not an independent melodic line — true counterpoint requires both voices to be independently singable with their own contour and rhythmic identity
CThe piece fails because it doesn't use passing tones or suspensions
DTwo-voice counterpoint requires the voices to cross frequently
The defining feature of counterpoint is bilateral melodic interest: each voice should be independently singable, with its own shape, rhythm, and forward momentum. When one voice merely arpegiates chords beneath a melody, it is accompaniment — the lower voice has no melodic life of its own. Bach's two-part inventions are the gold standard precisely because both voices are nearly equally memorable. Independence is the discipline, and failing it means you have a melody with harmonic support, not counterpoint.
Question 2 Multiple Choice
In species counterpoint, a student holds over a consonant note C from the first beat into the second beat, where the bass has moved and C is now dissonant. The student then resolves C downward by step to B. What device is this, and why is it permitted even though C is dissonant on the second beat?
AA passing tone — dissonance is permitted because the note moves by step between two consonances
BA suspension — dissonance is permitted because the note was consonant on the previous beat (prepared), held over, then resolved by step downward
CAn appoggiatura — dissonance is permitted because it arrives by leap and resolves by step
DA neighbor tone — dissonance is permitted because the note returns to its starting pitch
A suspension has three parts: preparation (consonant on the previous beat), suspension (held over into a beat where it becomes dissonant), and resolution (moves by step downward to a consonance). The emotional weight of a suspension comes from this structure — the note refuses to move, creating tension, then yields. This is not a passing tone (which passes through dissonance in motion between two consonances), nor an appoggiatura (which arrives by leap). The suspension is one of the most expressive devices in Renaissance and Baroque counterpoint.
Question 3 True / False
A suspension in two-voice counterpoint is prepared by leaping into the dissonant note on the strong beat.
TTrue
FFalse
Answer: False
A suspension is prepared by holding over a note that was consonant on the previous beat — the dissonance is created by stubborn retention, not by motion. The note is consonant, then held while the other voice moves to make it dissonant, then resolved by step downward. An approach by leap into a dissonance produces a different figure (an appoggiatura in later terminology). The preparation-suspension-resolution sequence is definitional, and the preparation must be on a beat where the held pitch is consonant against the other voice.
Question 4 True / False
In well-written two-voice counterpoint, contrary motion between the voices at cadences is preferable to parallel motion because it reinforces the independence of each line.
TTrue
FFalse
Answer: True
Contrary motion — where one voice rises as the other falls — maximizes the sense that both voices have their own directional momentum, making their independence audible. Parallel motion, especially parallel thirds or sixths sustained over several beats, makes the voices sound like they are moving as a unit rather than as independent lines. At cadences in particular, where arrival and finality are emphasized, contrary motion creates a sense of convergence and resolution that parallel motion cannot achieve in the same way.
Question 5 Short Answer
What makes two-voice counterpoint different from a melody with accompaniment, and why does the distinction matter?
Think about your answer, then reveal below.
Model answer: In counterpoint, both voices are independently melodic — each is singable on its own, with its own contour, rhythmic identity, and forward momentum. In a melody-with-accompaniment texture, one voice carries the musical interest while the other provides harmonic support without melodic interest of its own. The distinction matters because counterpoint requires managing two simultaneous melodic demands (each voice must make musical sense alone) while also ensuring harmonic coherence between them — a discipline that forces far more careful attention to voice-leading and interval choice.
Bach's two-part inventions are the reference point: in any given invention, if you isolate either voice, it remains musically coherent and nearly memorable on its own. This bilateral interest is the goal and the measure. Achieving it requires contrary and oblique motion, rhythmic independence between the lines, careful treatment of dissonance (passing tones, suspensions), and attention to registral distribution across the texture. Accompaniment patterns fail this test because the lower voice is harmonically functional but melodically inert.